Ziecha Norwillo is still grieving her late husband, Francis, a former soldier. Last year, Francis died will testing grenades that were 30-years-old. His widow and his coworker Michael Dougherty are now suing Purple Shovel, SkyBridge Tactical, SkyBridge Resources, Regulus Global LLC, and Regulus Global Inc. for the circumstances that led to his death. According to official documents, Purple Shovel is a logistics and construction company that the government contracted with to obtain firearms, equipment, and training. SkyBridge worked as a subcontractor.

Norwillo was testing rocket grenades in Bulgaria last June when one of the grenades unexpected exploded. Michael Dougherty was recording the test with his cell phone. When the grenade exploded, it killed Norwillo and injured Dougherty. The defendants named in the lawsuit were responsible for supplying the grenades and Norwillo believes they were aware of the age of the grenades when they ordered her husband and Dougherty to test them. The grenades should have been disposed of long before the tests because they had expired and had defective parts.

The US government knew that the grenades were expired and therefore did not allow troops to use them. The lawsuit says the grenades were labeled as “Defective, unstable, and dangerous”. However, the defendants knowingly still allowed Norwillo and Dougherty to test the weapons, without warning of potential risks. The lawsuit accuses the companies of 15 separate accounts including negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and wrongful death.

Norwillo said that the defendants purposefully lied and tried to cover up the facts surrounding her husband’s death. She said they grossly misrepresented the facts, adding to her distress. Norwillo and Dougherty are suing for medical bills, funeral costs, court and legal fees, emotional distress, and lost wages.

Prior to his death, Francis Norwillo served in the Navy for 11 years. He worked as a small arms ordinance technician for SEAL Team 8. His family remembers him as a loving father, a religious man, and a practical joker.

The Washington Post has given repeated coverage to the story, claiming that Purple Shovel was essentially attempting to arm Syrian rebels with grenades that were known to be defective. The company supposedly purchased the rocket-propelled grenades despite the fact that they were made in 1984 and clearly outdated and degraded.

Christopher Ligori, a personal injury attorney from Tampa, said this wrongful death case could take months or years to untangle. “There is much work ahead for attorneys on both sides of this lawsuit. The paper trail behind this cover-up is multi-faceted and the prosecutors will have a challenging task to prove their allegations. However, it is obvious that someone dropped the ball here and it led to an innocent man’s death. Someone ultimately will have to give an answer for that.”

The attorney for Purple Shovel has declined to give comments on the situation or the lawsuit. However, one attorney on the team did tell BuzzFeed that the reported findings are inaccurate, but the firm is not allowed to discuss details because of federal law that bars giving details about Defense contracts.

Gregory Hawkins is an ordinary guy whose quick thinking and heroic actions saved several lives after a recent car accident. Hawkins was driving on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard when he saw a clue Volkswagen, a black car, and two motorcycles go flying past him at high speeds. “I figured they were racing,” Hawkins said. “I didn’t think no more of it.” But moments later, the 49-year-old Tampa man was shocked when he saw the blue Volkswagen in a crumpled heap beside of a crushed and smoking mini-van.

The Volkswagen driver is now known to be 22-year-old Pablo Cortes. Investigators are still trying to determine what happened in the moments before the crash, but there is some video footage that has been helpful. A SnapChat video was recorded by a passenger with Cortes using a high speed filter to grab footage as the car raced down the road at around 115 miles per hour. Investigators say this video was time stamped at 9:38 PM and just six minutes later, more footage emerged of the crash scene.

When Hawkins spotted the accident, he immediately stopped and grabbed his camera phone. His recording shows the black car he had spotted earlier and two men who were looking at the wrecked Volkswagen and calling out to Pablo. One of the men is seen grabbing his head and shouting expletives. Then the men realize the wrecked mini-van is on fire and there are people trapped inside. That’s when the men in the black car sped away from the scene.

After capturing 43 seconds of video footage, Hawkins phone died and he realized the minivan was starting to burn. He jumped into action and helped deputies smash a window. “I looked in there, and there were kids,” he said. “I dove in the window, I got the little boy out first.”

As Hawkins worked to help free the passengers, the situation became increasingly tragic. The driver and mother, 39-year-old Marianela Murillo died on the scene along with two of her children, John Bernal, age 9, and Maria Bernal, age 10. Their sister, Lina Bernal, age 18, and 15-year-old niece Luisa Louisa were both critically injured and transported to Tampa General Hospital. The niece had been visiting the family on vacation from Colombia.

Pablo Cortes and his passenger both died in the crash. The accident also involved a Toyota whose 54-year-old driver, Carla Wyman, was seriously injured.

In the days following the accident, Hawkins has continued to check in with the family of the children he helped pull from the wreckage. He has even visited the hospital where the two teens are still in serious condition. Members of the Bernal and Murillo family call Hawkins their “angel” after he saved the two girls from the burning van. The family routinely talks to him by text. “They’re wonderful people and they’ve shown me a lot of love,” he said. “Everyone is showing one thing: universal love.”

A vigil was held for the victims of the accident and one local man said he hoped the community would learn something from this tragedy. “I don’t want to lose any more friends,” said Anthony Creelman. “I don’t want to see innocent people go anymore.”

Bill Winters, a personal injury attorney in Tampa, said he also hopes the community will use this as a learning opportunity. “In such a tragic time as this, we can’t afford to miss out on the lesson that is offered. Driving at such high speeds, whether street racing or making snapchat videos, is always a recipe for disaster.”

Tampa police have launched an investigation to try and determine the cause of a fatal accident at the city’s sweeper facility in late December. While details are still emerging in the case, officials have reported that the accident happened at the facility on Maritime Boulevard. Pablo Femenias, age 52, and Gregory Robinson, age 46, were both working at the facility at the time of the accident.

Femenias had parked a dump truck below a sweeper station, where it was filled with dirt from a front-end loader operated by Robinson. Officials say that when the truck was full, Femenias drove a short distance and parked 40 feet away, in a direct line behind the front-end loader where Robinson was still working. After parking the dump truck, Femenias exited the vehicle and began working on the left rear side. That’s where he was standing when he was hit by the front-end loader. The impact pinned Femenias between the loader and the dump truck.

Officials say that Robinson tried to administer CPR to save his coworker, but ultimately, it was too late. “Mr. Femenias was pronounced dead at the scene.” Emergency workers took Robinson into the hospital for observation. Investigators are still working to understand the moments leading up to the accident, but it seems that it was a tragic mistake where Robinson didn’t see Femenias behind the loader until it was too late.

“This is a sad day for our city,” said personal injury attorney Marc Yonker of Winters and Yonker law firm. “Accidents like this are hard to understand and they leave behind so many unanswered questions. We offer our sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Femenias during this difficult time.”

Meanwhile, the man’s family is struggling cope with the sudden loss. In a GoFundMe campaign, his daughter, Elizabeth Vera-Gomez, wrote about her heartache very candidly. “My heart continues to beat but I don’t feel alive. How do I explain to my children that their grandfather will no longer be coming home?”

The community has rallied around the Femenias family during their time of loss, providing donations to help the family that is struggling without a father’s income. Many Tampa friends contributed to help pay for a beautiful service for the man who was well loved by all who knew him.

When freak accidents like this happen, it can bring up a number of questions for everyone involved. If you have lost a loved one due to a tragic and unexpected accident, consult with a wrongful death attorney to find out if compensation is available. In some cases, the family of a victim will be eligible to receive pay-outs for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. A Tampa wrongful death attorney can help you navigate the legal process and determine if you are a good candidate to pursue a lawsuit. Time is critical in these situations and it’s important to contact an attorney immediately after the accident to find out more about your legal options.

This type of crime is referred to criminal behavior that has the intention to achieve some financial gain with the help of deception. The most common pattern of white collar crime is in the business world, where an individual has the access to a large amount of client’s money, in other words, he is in the position where he disposes of vast sums of money and can use it to his advantage. White collar crime isn’t connected with anything that has drug – related, violent or criminal behavior. In most cases, the people who commit white collar crime are usually high ranked employees and hold the respectable position in the company before they are discovered.

Federal authorities are in charged for investigation and prosecution. This is not an ideal solution for the accused, because of the high rate of convictions. Federal authorities have unlimited sources at their disposal, and they can pursue the accused ones. That is why people who are accused of white collar crime often misinterpret the intention of the court because they hope that the punishment will be mild. In reality, these type of sentences goes in pair with sentences which involve drug or violence.

The most common types of offenses

Each day people commit a large number of white-collar crimes in the U.S. The most common cases are tax invasions, insurance frauds, insider trading, bribery and money laundering. These types of crimes also involve a degree in which they are committed, smaller crimes involve when a person fails to write down all personal assets on a petition for bankruptcy. On the other hand, bigger crimes may affect large number of people and make them harm, for example, investment frauds made by financial brokers.

The most dreadful and notorious example of this crime happened in 2009, and it was named after schemer who operated 100 years ago Ponzi scheme. This scheme involves pieces of advice and misappropriation of the invested money. This scheme operates in a way where first clients are not paid from the profit, but from the investment that next clients make. The money manager, Bernard Madoff, was convicted to 150 years in prison because he achieved a financial gain of $65 billion due to a Ponzi scheme.

This type of crime has one specialty, individuals who are suspected of white collar crime often become aware that they are being investigated even weeks before their arrest. In some way, this may cause fear and tension about their future, but on the other hand, they can prepare for the outcome, by hiring a criminal defense attorney, sometimes it can even help them avoid the charger or even reduce them.

During the trial, several experts, police, and witnesses are called to testify, where evidence are displayed, and the whole trial can be finished in a two days. On the other hand, in the cases where prosecution is trying to prove alleged case of white collar crime, the trial can last up to few weeks, and the number of evidence must be included.

RICO law is connected with individuals who participated in the organized crime and are prosecuted and charged for their crimes. In 1970, Congress brought a RICO act to deal with Mafia groups. It has passed nearly 40 years from the inaction of that Act, and its influence has spread, from corrupted police to biker gangs. RICO law is not a mean to punish isolated and separate crimes, but it’s a way to punish all members of the organization who engage in some criminal and wrongful behavior.

RICO act took the basis of Title 18, section 1961 of the U.S. codes and this lists includes racketeering, extortion, homicide, kidnapping and witness tampering. Also, robbery and arson fall under the racketeering charges. Some types of financial crimes are also included, for example, wire fraud, money laundering, and securities violations.

By the RICO act, we have two type of penalties, civil and criminal. This means that prosecutors can make a claim, but also an independent individual. If we are talking about criminal prosecution, the jury plays an important role because it must be convinced that defendant is guilty. This is the highest type of punishment in the legal system of the United States, where charges for the crimes go up to 20 years in prison, but this can be expanded to a life sentence in prison. There is also a monetary fine included, for example, $250,000 or double the amount of money defendant earned from illegal activity.

RICO act is made to cripple every criminal organization, so it doesn’t only take away all illegally earned money and properties of the individual, but also it traces back its origin back to the organization. This act allows the government to confiscate all the defendant’s asset even before he is found to be guilty or even before the case goes to trial.

In the cases of the civil claims, the same procedure is applied, the jury must be convinced, but they have a lower burden of proof. Even though they include this mitigating circumstance, civil claims are rather expensive and last too long. But, if the plaintiff manages to recover the damage, his reward will be three times bigger than the damage.

Every RICO charge has to have specific elements, which involve that individual must be a member of Mafia or another undercover corporation or enterprise, and that has the certain pattern of behavior which involves racketeering. Sometimes it might be hard to prove RICO case because each of these elements must be satisfied.

In the cases where we have informal organizations, like street and motorcycle gangs, Supreme Court made a decision that each organization who has members and which purpose is considered to have a mutual goal and to achieve it, might be considered an enterprise.

The term pattern in RICO act is also important because it includes two or more racketeering behaviors within the period of ten years. But, by the Supreme Court, this type of pattern must be related in action.